Rocking into our world from the pages of DARK NIGHTS: METAL comes a nightmarish fusion of a gender-flipped Batman and Aquaman—the Drowned. Bryce Wayne came from Earth-11 and harbored a deep hatred of the Atlanteans for their role in the death of her beloved, Sylvester Kyle. In a quest to avenge Kyle, she spliced her DNA with that of Atlanteans, becoming a super-powered Dark Knight capable of breathing and fighting underwater. This carefully detailed statue highlights the unique character design of this mashup, as the Drowned has her own trident and cape, and sports the flowing hair of a submerged and vengeful Dark Knight.
In Dark Nights: Metal, our heroes learn that everything you dread splits off into its own dark universe where the fear you imagined becomes reality. And when Bruce Wayne first pondered what would happen if the love of his life were killed by a metahuman and the road to revenge turned him into a homicidal maniac who engaged in doomed peace negotiations with Atlantis… and he had to perform surgery on himself so he could breathe underwater… and he was a lady in this scenario… Umm.. Ya know what? Not all of the Evil Batmen have good backstories. In fact, only like three of them do. However, artist Greg Capullo sure did an excellent job of making them all look cool, and this pirate-themed Batwoman is no exception.
I’ll be approaching this review from two different directions. To start, you’ll get a “First Impression,” which is a quick overview with some anecdotes about my own experience showing the statue off in my home. Then there’s the “Scrutinized” section which will go into more detail about the paint, sculpt, assembly, packaging, etc. etc. That portion of the review is for anyone who is on the fence about dropping $85 smackers on this collectible, and need to know all the particulars.
First Impression
“Who is that?”
“It’s one of the evil Batmen from an alternate universe.”
“But he’s a girl.”
“Yeah.”
I’ve had that exchange about six times now. And it usually culminates in the onlooker asking if her origin story is any good, and I tell them it isn’t, but we both agree that she looks cool anyway. Girls I know who cosplay have even expressed enthusiasm for making an outfit based on the Drowned when they first see this statue, but that quickly evaporates every time I explain the character’s backstory and the fact that her name is “the Drowned.” The character design really is quite fun, and the fact that this statue can get people excited like that proves it. It’s just a shame that her title and personal history make her so unappealing, because the swashbuckling aesthetic is a real crowd-pleaser.
There’s just so much attention to detail given to her clothes and weaponry, and I love how her hair is floating– she looks like she’s actually underwater. And it kind of makes me wonder if you could spray the statue in something that would protect the paint and still be safe for fish, because (and this might sound ridiculous) this statue would look bad ass in a DC fan’s aquarium. Does anybody have an Aquaman-themed fish tank? I’d love to see that.
Realistically though, you’re going to put this on a shelf or in a well-lit display case, and for that I think you’re going to need all of the statues from the Dark Nights: Metal collection to really impress. She’s a fine looking statue, but unlike Merciless or the upcoming Devastator, ol’ Bryce needs to be surrounded by other evil Batmen to make jaws drop.
Scrutinized
The packaging for this figure is identical to what you saw from The Merciless and The Dawnbreaker. It’s a clean design featuring a close-up of The Drowned against a stark white backdrop. On the reverse side you’ll find a brief description, plus photos of other statues from the series.
When you open the box you’ll find that The Drowned is sealed snugly within two pieces of molded Styrofoam. Cut those two pieces loose and set her free! The Drowned is comprise of two parts: the body and the base. While The Merciless had a separate sword that you had to manually insert into his grip, The Drowned comes with her weapon already in hand! Her trident is rubbery plastic or PVC, and not metal like The Merciless‘ sword or polyresin, which I’m thankful for. The staff of the trident and its three prongs are quite thin and would have been all too easy to break if you ever accidentally knocked her over– and that’s entirely too easy to do. While the metal pegs under her right boot fit nicely into a pair of notches in the carved octagonal base, the foundation itself should have been heavier to help prevent toppling.
Altogether, the Drowned measures 7.4 inches tall, which makes her taller than Batman w/Baby Darkseid and The Murder Machine, but shorter than The Merciless and Dawnbreaker. And I’m not counting the prongs on the staff, she’s taller than Bats and MM without including the trident in her height measurement.
Besides my complaints about her being a little too lightweight and too dainty to survive your cat knocking her on her side, The Drowned is a perfect sculpture representation of Greg Capullo’s original design from the pages of Dark Nights: Metal. I’m incredibly impressed by the mixed media design that employs plastic not just in the aforementioned trident, but in her hair and in the drifting tails of her skirt (DC Collectibles calls it a cape, but it sure looks like a skirt to me). These elements look like they’re floating in water! Or, if you’re displaying her with the other Evil Batmen, on an ocean breeze.
Each of these delicate details would have been far too difficult to achieve with polyresin alone. The whole thing would be far too brittle and would break into little pieces during the manufacturing process alone! But by using plastic, DC Collectibles was able to achieve the look of thin, airy fabrics and water (or wind) swept hair brilliantly.
Heavy, almost cartoon-like shading effects are seen throughout this collection, but in my opinion the paint on this statue is the best so far. Every fold of her jacket, every crease of her skirt, every taught line of her corset is outlined to give Drowned a distinct look. Even the trident sports bold black highlights on the edge of its prongs to give it that straight-from-the-comic feel. The painted-on shadows contrast with the more lifelike metallic tone of the trident (and a telescope accessory found strapped to her arm) but I like that, it’s unique. I did find it odd that her sidearm, strapped to her thigh, wasn’t embellished with the cell shaded effects, but that’s easily overlooked.
Overall
While The Drowned had one of the poorest backstories of all the Evil Batmen, I absolutely love her design, and every detail of Capullo’s original drawing is represented here from the eyepatch and bat-necklace to the flowing hair and skirt that appear to be swept up by the sea air. The paint is excellent, the sculpt is superb, and she looks amazing standing next to The Dawnbreaker and The Merciless. So I say, if you’re collecting evil Batmen, you will definitely want to include The Drowned. She’s a beaut.
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